Seville Marathon 2026

I have become a hiker who completes marathons. The Seville Marathon this February did not go to plan. My days of sub-four-hour marathons are way behind me or ahead of me, perhaps, with no chance of catching them.

Fifty minutes slower than the Barcelona Marathon last year, my seventh marathon destroyed me. I crossed the finish line in Seville in 4:52. It was tough and when I ran past my hotel at the four-mile mark, it was incredibly tempting to stop. But did I give up? Nunca! No way, Jose. From running to power walking to jogging that was only marginally faster than my power walking, I finished it.

As I hit the home straight, a faster runner who must have been already thinking about lunch after his morning run of 26.2 miles, said he could not imagine running a five-hour marathon. It seemed to be a respectful rather than derogatory comment and pushing yourself for that long is a real feat of endurance. I did not respect that fact when I was younger and faster.

Once again, sorry for shouting, ‘Where’s the effing finish?’ as I prayed for the marathon to end. I was not the happy runner needed for the promo posters. The bemused volunteers cheering me on, pointing towards the finish. The finish line video shows I was broken.

Once I returned to the UK, I spent a day in bed recovering, barely able to move. My electrolytes are all out of whack and I am seriously salt deprived. The post-marathon delirium haunting my sleep, making me believe I was in a specialist bed with five stages to aid my recovery, activated by the position of my body and head.

Flying Club Class to Seville gave me a false sense of confidence. I stayed in the Kivir Hotel which is an ideal location for getting to the race, but not ideal for sleep if you have a street-facing room above the bars that do not close until the early hours.

Now that I look back, there were clues this race would not go well. On the Friday I bought meatballs from a supermarket deli which I discovered were cold, not hot. I ate them anyway as I could not fathom how to deal with a saucy dish in a hotel room. Ooh err missus! I could have chucked them down the toilet. Could they have given me mild food poisoning?

Later, I slipped when I came out of the shower – pride comes before a fall? Even though I thought I landed like a rock star stuntman, avoiding dislocating my left knee for a third time. Apart from a tray of tapas food which I demolished, I did not have an appetite before or after the race. Is that why I had no energy for the race?

But the Breakfast 5K Run the day before went well, boosting my confidence I would finish the marathon in four hours. However, 26 miles is very different to three miles. Saying I was planning to finish in four hours does sometimes act as a natural repellent to other runners who cannot comprehend running that slowly. When I finished the marathon, I was pleased to see how chuffed the runners were with finishing it. Everyone runs the same distance, just at a different pace.

The race route meant I could not walk back the way I came to get back to the hotel. However, walking past the bag drop alongside the river meant I discovered the other urinals and toilet cubicles. If only the thousands of runners at the start pens knew these toilets were there, they would not have set a world record for urinating through a fence to water a park. It was like a Fleabag Willy Wall with some women joining in when they gave up queuing. I hope the rain washes away the urine and witnesses are not traumatised by what they saw poking through the fence.

I was Pablo the runner and the crowd cheered me on, giving me the belief to keep going. There are plenty of hydration stops which was good as the water from my rucksack bladder tasted rank. The organisation, expo, course and public support were of the highest standard. The website is true to its word: “It has a spectacular circuit, the flattest in Europe, that passes through the most emblematic places in the city such as the Plaza de España, Torre del Oro, La Giralda, Maria Luisa Park or La Maestranza.”

I stopped at a shop to buy a Picasso Bulls t-shirt with the cashier struggling to understand why I did not have a good race. ‘It’s flat, no?’

‘Si,’ I sighed, ‘it is flat but I could not get going and found it incredibly difficult. I missed the sprint finish of the elite men's race but you can see the race here Zurich Seville Marathon

I fear I will not achieve my bucket list goal of 10 marathons before I turn 50. Or maybe I will and end up kicking the bucket as the roads reopen and spectators step over me to get to the shops. I am considering my options and might enter the San Sebastian Marathon in 2027 to complete the Zurich 5 Challenge. I will have to run in the last wave without pacemakers.

Maybe the savage cold I have now was bubbling away when I ran the marathon. Along with my dodgy ankles and lack of stamina and pace, that would have been why I did not set a new personal best.